


Marked for Tragedy

by WhimsyAndMalice



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Heartbreak, Hurt No Comfort, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 01:27:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29535429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhimsyAndMalice/pseuds/WhimsyAndMalice
Summary: Pansy had finally left her mother’s house and was free but she couldn't have known that her freedom would have such a high cost.
Relationships: Pansy Parkinson/Charlie Weasley
Comments: 6
Kudos: 2





	Marked for Tragedy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LionLadyBee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LionLadyBee/gifts).



> This is the first chapter in a fic that I have owed to the amazing LionLadyBee for almost six months now and am just now getting around to it.
> 
> I hope you like it darling! 
> 
> ***This is largely unbetaed so most mistakes are my own.***

Pansy was tired of everything. Tired of her mother’s expectations of how a proper pureblood woman should behave, Tired of her stupid, shallow friends and their insipid conversations about fashion, the latest beauty trends and other useless drivel. She was just so tired of her life that she felt like she would go crazy if she stayed in it one more day. With this thought in mind, Pansy gathered what money and jewelry she had at her disposal, the extra wand that she had procured after the war had ended, and a set of potions that would keep her alive under all but the most dire of circumstances. 

Once her bag was packed, she headed down to what had been her father’s study and opened the hidden lockbox that contained illegal and untraceable portkeys, Ministry outlawed potions and artifacts and other, darker things. Pansy looked at the tray that held the innocuous objects that her father had turned into portkeys and hesitated. None of them were labeled, she had no idea where any of them would send her, what if she ended up in the middle of something she couldn’t escape or something worse?

She took a deep breath, braced herself, closed her eyes and grabbed the first object that her fingers landed on. She dropped the wand that she had carried since she was ten years old and whispered a single word. “Portus.” She felt the familiar pull behind her navel and was gone, the only sign that she had been there was her wand, resting on the rich, dark rug. 

The dark haired witch reappeared seconds later inside of a well appointed—if quite a bit smaller than she had been expecting—room. Taking in her surroundings, she realised that she had Portkey-ed into a study of sorts, but the books were all in a language that she didn’t recognise. Frowning, she racked her brain for the spell that would make it possible for her to understand and speak whatever language this was. After a few moments, her eyes lit up as the words popped into her head. Pointing her wand at her temple, Pansy softly spoke the words of the obscure spell. “Lingua Revelare.” The words on the books blurred and twisted and pain lanced through her head, sending her to her knees. After a little while, the pain faded and she stood, gently panting from the exertion of having a new language forced into her head. Still mildly dizzy, Pansy looked up at the books once again and was pleased to see that she now understood the titles, she spoke a few words in the new language, testing how they felt on her tongue. Her mouth was unused to making such sounds but the more she spoke, the more they fell from her tongue as if she had been born to it. 

Satisfied that she had a good grasp on the language, she left the study and explored what was going to be her new home, at least for now. As she went from room to room, she realised that her initial guess about the place was right on target. It was well appointed but very small, by the looks of it, the place was only meant to be inhabited by one person but that suited Pansy just fine as she had no need for anyone else that she didn’t explicitly choose. She had left England to get away from people making choices for her and she wouldn’t let anyone take this new freedom away from her. She easily found the bedroom and was immediately overtaken with a massive wave of exhaustion so she set all her things down, disrobed and climbed into bed. Pansy was asleep before she could finish the thought that the bed was remarkably comfortable. 

The next day, Pansy left the house in search of food and to find out where the Portkey had actually landed her. A short walk later, she found herself in a fair sized, but thankfully, magical village. As Pansy was buying food from one of the street vendors, she saw a strange-looking building beyond the far end of the village. As she watched the wizened old man skewer pieces of marinated chicken and vegetables onto thin wooden sticks, she cleared her throat and spoke, “Excuse me sir, but that building there, what is it?”

The man didn’t pause in his preparation of her order, he spoke as he deftly cut and cooked. “That? That is where the dragon trainers sleep and care for the hatchlings that are rejected by their mothers. Behind it lies the entrance to the biggest dragon preserve in all of Europe, it’s the pride of Romania it is.”

Pansy’s interest was piqued as soon as she heard the word dragons. She took her food and ate as she explored the village, slowly making her way towards the building and the mysteries that it was sure to contain. Once she was full, she vanished her trash and made her way up to the building. She was about to knock on the door when a blur of scales came flying out and knocked her to the ground. As she lay there dazed, she heard a loud screeching noise followed by a man’s voice shouting after it just before she sank into unconsciousness. 

“Linus! Get back here you arsehole! You know damn well that you aren’t supposed to be out of your nest yet!” It wasn’t until he spun around in frustration that he noticed the most beautiful woman he had ever seen lying on the ground with a quickly darkening bruise on her face. Fearing the worst, he picked her up as gently as he could and quickly took her to the center's infirmary. She began to stir as he laid her down on the bed, her eyelids fluttered open to reveal eyes in the most amazing shade of grey that Charlie had ever seen. The girl pushed against him as she tried to sit up but he gently pushed her back down. 

“Shh, you need to lay back down, you took quite the nasty blow to the head thanks to me.”

He watched her face screw up in dazed confusion, but finally she just gave the smallest of nods and laid back down with a wince. 

A woman in worn healer's robes bustled over to the side of the bed that a mostly unconscious Pansy occupied and shooed Charlie away. “Get away from the girl and let me work Weasley, it’s bad enough that you put her in this state, you don’t need to suffocate the poor thing too!” 

Charlie held up his hands in surrender and backed away from the bed. “I didn’t do it intentionally Agatha, I was chasing Linus! How was I supposed to know that she was going to be on the other side of the door.”

Agatha had her back to Charlie as she worked on the girl but she rolled her eyes all the same. “You’re always so bloody clumsy Charlie, I see enough work just patching you up on a weekly basis, now because of your ill sense, this poor girl has a concussion because of you! Go find that bloody hatchling and I’ll let you know when she’s recovered enough to talk to you. If she doesn’t hex you first that is.”

Charlie hung his head, shame suffusing his features at Agatha’s words. “I’m sorry Aggie, I know I need to be more careful, but you know how the hatchlings are.”

Agatha finished spelling potions into the girl and rinsed her hands of the bruise paste that she had placed on the girl's bruises and turned to face the ginger dragon tamer. Her gaze softened after a moment and she placed a hand on his cheek. “Listen Charlie, I know you mean well but please, leave me to care for the girl and go find Linus, you know he’ll be harder to catch the longer he’s out there.”

He gave the older woman a crooked smile and made his way towards the door, stopping only to toss a last word over his shoulder. “Aggie? Make sure to charge anything she needs to me, I’ll cover any of her costs.” And with that he left, closing the door to the infirmary quietly behind him. 

The next day, Charlie rose early to make sure he would be able to finish his morning tasks with the hatchlings and still have time to go see the mysterious girl in the infirmary. When he was finished, he quickly cleaned himself off with a few spells his mother had taught him because the last thing he wanted was to frighten or disgust the girl by being covered in hatchling mess. Finally ready, he made his way to the infirmary and opened the door. The first thing he saw was the diminutive Agatha with her hands on her hips, glaring at the younger woman with a fierceness that even Charlie knew not to challenge. It was unfortunate then, that this woman hadn’t yet learned that challenging Agatha was never a good idea. He cleared his throat to announce his presence and was about to speak when Agatha raised her hand. 

“You stay right there Charlie Weasley, I’m not done talking to this little girl.”

Pansy’s eyes widened, Weasley? Well that would certainly explain the riot of red hair haphazardly springing from his head. But what was a Weasley doing here of all places? Suddenly the memory of being knocked down the day before sprang into her head, she remembered the flash of red hair before hitting the ground. She narrowed her eyes at him and pushed her way past the small, annoying woman in healer's robes. Pansy strode up to him and glared up at him. “You! You’re the one that knocked me over yesterday and the reason why I woke up in this place! Do you have anything to say for yourself Weasley? Or are you just a coward like your brother?”

Charlie hardened his gaze as he looked down at the woman’s beautiful, albeit angry face. “And what, in the name of Merlin’s left nut, do you know about any of my brothers?”

Pansy tossed her head arrogantly, “I was at Hogwarts with at least four of them you oaf. I saw how your brother Percy almost cost Fred his life during the final battle! If not for Professor Flitwick, they would both have died that day and you know it.”  
Charlie’s jaw went slack at her words, he had suspected the girl was English but he hadn’t realised that there was that sort of connection. All of a sudden, comprehension dawned in his eyes. “You’re Pansy Parkinson. I remember hearing about you from Ron and his friends.”

Pansy seemed to deflate, all of her bravado leaving her when she heard his words. “Yes, I am and I’m sure that none of it was flattering. I wasn’t the best person while I was at Hogwarts and I paid for that in spades over the years.” She sniffed, “Well, now that you know I’m just a dirty snake I will collect my things and take my leave. I wouldn’t want to sully your presence any further.”

Pansy turned and grabbed her bag and wand and moved to leave the room. She had pulled open the door when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened but turned around to face Charlie with a cool look on her face. “What? Do you need to insult me before I leave? Go ahead but I assure you that I’ve heard it all before.”

Charlie frowned. “No, I don’t want to insult you.”

Pansy glared at him, “What then?”

With a sigh Charlie let go of her arm. “Listen Pansy, I’m not going to insult you and I don’t want to hurt you. I was at fault for what happened to you yesterday so I’d like to make it up to you if you’ll allow me to.”

Pansy eyed him warily. “Make it up to me how?”

At this, a massive grin broke out on Charlie’s tanned and freckled face. “Well, I’d like to take you out to dinner tonight to start if that’s alright with you?” 

The look on Pansy’s face thawed and she allowed the ghost of a smile to grace her face. “Very well. I’ll meet you in the town square at half seven?”

Charlie nodded enthusiastically, “That sounds perfect, I’ll see you then!”

With the agreement made, Pansy left and made her way back home, the events of the past twenty four hours swirling around in her head.


End file.
